History
The Oregon Statesman was founded on March 28, 1851, by Asahel Bush, a Democrat, in response to the Whig-controlled Portland-based paper, The Oregonian. Congressional delegate Samuel Thurston assisted Bush in starting the newspaper while Thurston was in Washington, DC. Printed using a hand press, the paper was originally based in Oregon City, but moved to Salem in June 1853 when the Oregon State Capitol was relocated to that city. The paper was used as a mouthpiece of the Democratic Party and of the Salem Clique that ran the party in Salem.
In March 1863, Bush sold the paper and entered the banking field. The name of the paper was changed to the Salem Statesman and became less of a partisan newspaper. In 1866, the Statesman ceased publication, only to resume in 1869 under the guidance of editor Samuel A. Clarke and under the new moniker of The Statesman and Unionist. The Unionist portion was removed from the name within a short amount of time, and in 1884 R. J. Hendricks became the paper's manager and editor, positions he held for 44 years. Also in 1884, ownership passed to Jasper Wilkins and Alonzo Gesner, with Gesner selling out his part within a year. Will H. Parry established the Capital Journal on March 1, 1888, initially as a for-profit venture and an outlet for the Republican Party. Parry sold the Journal by the end of the year, one of many ownership changes in subsequent years.
Around 1918, George P. Putnam purchased the Capital Journal and served as editor for 30 years before selling to Bernard Mainwaring in 1953. Meanwhile, Charles A. Sprague, who went on to become governor of Oregon, bought the Statesman in 1929. In 1954, Mainwaring and Sprague agreed that their respective papers should cooperate closely. The Journal moved into the Statesman's new facility and the two papers began sharing printing facilities while keeping independent writers and editors.
In 1973, both papers were sold to national publisher Gannett, the company that publishes USA Today. In 1980, they were combined to form the Statesman Journal. Dating to the Statesman's inception, it is the second-oldest Oregon newspaper. The paper won ten first-place awards in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association's annual Better Newspaper Contest in 2001, the most in its division. In the 2006 contest, the paper took first place in its division for overall excellence, best editorial page, and best editorial. In July 2008, Steve Silberman was named the publisher of the newspaper.
Read more about this topic: Statesman Journal
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
“America is, therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of Old Europe.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)